Pattern in the Ten-Bhmi Systems

The Adoption of the Buddha's Life

Hisao Inagaki

Buddhism in the earliest period had no doctrinal systems or biographies of the Buddha. It was some time after the Buddha's decease that the teachings came to be systematized and biographical narratives were compiled. Difference in systematization and interpretation of the doctrine gave rise to the emergence of different schools; and several schools, it is assumed, had (1) also their own tradition of the Buddha's life. Those biographies which we now have in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese bear traces of gradual amplification and ideological development. Simple and plain descriptions of the Buddha's life were replaced by decorative glorifications in literal expres- sion and ideology. Development of the Abhidharmika, concepts of Buddha and Dharma surely exerted no small influence on the Buddha's biographies, and the rise of Mahayana Buddhism gave impetus to the compilation of Mahayanistic biographies, such as the Lalitavistara. Influence of the biographical literature upon Mahayana ideologies is no less significant. When the idea of Ten-Bhumi arose, the Buddha's life was adapted into its scheme. Out of a number of Ten-Bhumi systems, the following three, in particular, show clear indications of the attempt to incor- porate the Buddha's life into their systems: Mahavastu, Prajnapararnita, and Avatamsaka. A comparative study of these systems will reveal the process by which the Buddha's life pattern was formulated to- fit the Ten-Bhumi concepts, and it will, I hope, throw a light on the relation between different Ten-Bhumi systems.

(1)The colophon to the. Eu pen hang chi ching佛本行集経testifies to this f act stating that the Mahasamghikas, Sarvastivadins, Kasyapiyas, Dharma- guptas, and Mahisasakas had their own biographies. (Taisho. III, 932 a) -797- The Buddha's life pattern in the Ten-bhumi systems (H. Inagaki) (81)

I. MAHAVASTU The Mahavastu is a collection of almost all the his- torical records and legendary stories of the Buddha that had been passed down to the period of its compilation. We find in it a large section on the Ten Bhumis which, no doubt, is an elaboration by later Lokottaravadins. Quasi-Mahayanistic as it may well be called, the idea of the Mahavastu affords ample material for the developed Mahayanistic Ten-Bhumi concepts. According to the Mahavastu, a Bodhisattva in the Tenth Bhumi, Abhisekata (Consecrational), is to be born in the Tusita Heaven, is to descend to earth, become recluse, and finally attain Buddhahood. The description of his finall existence is the same as that of Sakyamuni Buddha, or, it might be better to say that Sakyamuni's life is reproduced here in a generalized form. It is asserted that all Bodhisattvas go through the same stages to become a Buddha. The life, pattern in the Tenth Bhumi is presented as the seven perfections: 1 garbhavakranti, 2 garbha-sthiti, 3 jati, 4 janetri, 5 abhini- (2) skramana, 6 virya, and 7 jnanadhigamana. In explaining the details of this form, the compiler (s) of the Mahavastu simply follows the biographical stories of Sakyamuni Buddha. Even the proper names are reserved. Near the end of the whole account of the Ten Bhumis, Mahakatyayana, in answering Mahakasyapa's question, says that all Buddhas expounded the Ten Bhumis and that the foregoing Ten Bhumis have been explained by taking the Buddha Sakyamuni as a type The compiler(s) certainly had in mind a system which would embrace both the traditional biography of the Buddha and the newly risen Ten-Bhumi formula. The attempt to bring out a well-formulated system appears to have failed to reach its goal, but it paved a way for a better system as we shall see

(2) "garbhavakranti-sarnpannas ca samyaksarhbuddha bhavanti, etc." Maha- vastu, ed. by Senart, I, 142. Note that the later biographies of the Buddha made a Mahayanistic turn. The Lalitavistara, for example, gives the following nine features of the life of a Bodhisattva in the Abhiseka Bhumi: avak. ramana, janma, abhiniskramana, duskara-carya, bodhimandopasamkramana, mara-dhvarhsana, bodhi-vibodhana, dharmacakrapravartana, and mahaparinirvana. (Lalitavistara, ed. by Lefmann, p. 36) (3) Mahavastu, I, 161. -796- (82) The Buddha's life pattern in the Ten-bhumi systems(H. Inagaki) in Mahayana literature. 11. PRAJNA SUTRAS The Prajna literature belongs to the base stratum of Mahayana Buddhism. We find in it various basic ideologies of Mahayana. The idea of Ten Bhumis is presented in it more systematically than in the Mahavastu. It is easily observed that the Ten-Bhumi of the Prajna literature has grown out of a mere systematization of Sakyamuni's Bodhisattva career. The life and career of Sakyamuni is generalized to such a degree now that it is adaptable universally to all Bodhisattvas. A Bodhisattva of the highest stage, according to the Prajna literature, is endowed with twelve perfections, of which the last seven or nine are very much the same as the main events in Sakyamuni's life. The following are several varieties of the twelve-aspect pattern in different Prajna sutras. 1. Satasahasrika Prajnaparamita: A Bodhisattva in the Ninth. Bhumi f ulfil's the twelve dharmas, which are: 1 ananta-pranidhana-parigraha, 2 deva-naga-yaksa-gandharvasura-garuda-kinnara-mahoraga-ruta- jnana, 3 pa- ripurna-pratibha-nirdesa-jnana, 4 garbhavakranti-sampat, 5 kula-sampat, 6 jati-sampat, 7 gotra-sampat, 8 paricara-sampat (or parivara-s.), 9 janma- sampat, 10 abhikramana-sampat, 11 bodhivriksa-vyuha-sampat, and 12 sarva- (4) guna-paripuri-sampat. The detailed explanation of each item, however, includes much that is peculiar to Buddha's biographies.

2. Kuang tsan pan jo po lo mi ching光讃般若波羅蜜経: The twelve

dharmas are to be perfected in the Tenth Bhami. They are: 1爲無量虜而

設擁護, 2随衆所願各令得所, 3口所演説諸天龍神提沓恕阿須倫迦縷羅眞陀羅摩愁勒, 4聞其音各各解了, 5辮才如是, 6胞胎衆事, 7種姓尊貴, 8所生之庭, (5) 9春囑國土, 10棄國指家, 11詣於佛樹, 12清浄具足一切功徳.

(4) S'atashahasrika Prajnaparamita, ed. by Pratapacandra Ghosa, Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1902-1914, pp. 1458, 1470, 1471. The twelve dharmas are introduced on p. 1455, but the text has errors and omissions in this part, which I have corrected and supplied according to the expository section on pp. 1470-1. Cf. Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita, ed. by N. Dutt, Lon- don, 1934, pp. 224-5; E. Conze, The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, Lon- don, 1961, pp. 162-3; E. Conze, Abhisamayalankara, Serie Orientale Roma VI, Roma, 1954, pp. 27-8. (5) Taisho. VIII, 197 a. -795- The Buddha's life pattern in the Ten-bhumi systems (H. Inagaki) (83)

3. Pang kuang Pan jo po lo mi ching放光般若波羅蜜経: ABodhisattva perfects the twelve dharmas in the Ninth Bhumi: 1持無限庭廣大之願随所慮各授其誰, 2天龍閲叉健陀羅悉皆具足, 3知其音聲以弁才教授所因, 4胞胎成

就, 5居家成就, 6父母成就, 7種姓成就, 8宗親成就, 9得生成就, 10出家成 (6) 就, 11荘嚴佛樹成就, 12諸善功徳成就. 4. Mo ho pm jo po lo mi ching摩詞般若波羅蜜経: There are the twelve dharmas to be perfected in the Ninth Bhimi: 1受無邊世界所度之分, 2菩

薩得如所願, 3知諸天龍夜叉健閣婆語而爲説法, 4塵胎成就, 5家成就, 6所生

成就, 7姓成就8春屡成就, 9出生成就, 10出家成就, 11荘嚴佛樹成就, 12 (7) 一切諸善功徳成満具足.

5. Ta pan fo po lo mi ching大般若波羅蜜経: The twelve dharmas are to

わeperfected in the Tenth Bhami: 1撮受無邊虜所大願随有所願皆令讃得, 2

随諸天龍及藥叉等異類音, 3無碍弁説, 4入胎具足, 5出生具足, 6家族具足, 7種姓具足, 8春屡具足, 9生身具足, 10出家具足, 11荘嚴菩提樹具足, 12一 (8) 切功徳成辮具足. III. AVATAMSAKA-SUTRA We find the idea of Ten Bhumis fully developed in the Dasabhumika-sutra, in which a Bodhisattva of the Tenth Bhumi, Dharmamegha, manifests himself in ten states: 1 tusita-vara-bhavana-vasa, 2 cyavana, 3 avakramana, 4 garbha-sthiti, 5 janma, -6 abhiniskramana, 7 abhisambodhi, 8 adhyesana, 9 mahadharmacakra-pravartana, 10 (9) mahaparinirvana. Here ten outstanding events in the Buddha's life are taken up to for- mulate the life of a Bodhisattva of the highest rank. The number of aspects, however, varies in the same sutra. In the exposition of the First Bhumi, Pramudita, the Buddha's life pattern is shown in the following fif teen states: 1 tusita-bhavana-vasa, 2 cyavana, 3 acankramana, 4 garbha-sthiti, 5 janma; 6 kumara-krida, 7 antahpura-vasa, 8 abhiniskramana, 9 duskara-carya, 10 bodhimanda-upasamkramana, 11 maradharsana, 12 abhisambodhi, 13 adhye-

(6) Taisho. VIII, 27 c. (7) Ibid., 257 b-c. (8) Taisho. VII, 83 c. (9) Dasabhumika, Rahder's text, p. 90; Kondo's text, p. 191. -794- (84) The Buddha's life pattern in the Ten-bhumi systems (H. Inagaki) (10) sana, 14 mahacakrapravartana, and 15 mahaparinirvana. In different Chinese translations of the Dasabhumika, we have similar presentations of the for- (11) mula of Buddha's life. In other chapters of the Avatamsaka we find sporadic references to the formula of Buddha's life. A strinking example of the resembrance to Sakyamuni's biography is found in the Chapter "Renunciation of the (12) World", in which, according to the Tu shih p'in ching and others, Saman- tabhadra answer questions regarding, among others, nineteen features of Buddha's life, including dwelling in the Tusita Heaven, birth, walking seven steps after birth, overpowering of maras, Enlightenment, and Pari- nirvana. In the Ganclavyuha, too, we often run into cases in which a Bodhisattva's specific teachings are expounded based on or in connection (13) with main events in Sakyamuni's life. The above inquiry leads us to the following conclusions. First, the seven dharmas to be perfected (sampanna) in the Tenth Bhfimi in the, Mahavastu are similar to the last seven or nine of the twelve dharmas in the Prajna sutras. Three of them are even identical, only difference being that sampanna' in the former is changed to its noun form sampat' in the latter. This fact suggests a close relationship between the two systems. We can not yet decide whether the Prajna sutras borrowed the Buddha's life pattern from the Mahavastu or vice versa, or whether there existed an archetypal pattern from which the two systems derived their materials. Secondly, the life patterns of a highest Bodhisattva in the Mahavastu and the Prajna sutras end in Enlightenment, whereas in the Avatamsaka a complete picture of the Buddha's life, i. e. from the life in the Tusita

(10) Dasabhumika, Rahder's text, p. 14; Kondo's text, p. 19. In the latter the tenth item is lacking. (11) Cf. 漸備一切智徳経, Taisho. X, 462 b-c, 491 b, 492 a; 華嚴経(60 chuan), Tai。 sho. IX, 545 b, 573 c; 十佳経, Taisho. X, 501 a, 528 a, 530 b-c; 華嚴経(80 chuan), ibid., 181 c, 205 a, 207 b; 十地経, ibid., 538 c, 567 a, 570 a. (12) 度世品経, Taisho. X, 644 a ff.; 華嚴経(60 chdan), Taisho. IX, 632 c ff.; 華嚴経(80chtian), Taisho. X, 280 a-b ff. (13) Gandavyuha, ed. Suzuki & Izumi, pp. 375, 441, 446, etc. -793- The Buddha's life pattern in the Ten-bhumi systems (H. Inagaki) (85)

Heaven to Parinirvana, is given. In the former, the. Bodhisattva career is supposed to end with the attainment of Buddhahood; thus, a line of demar- cation is drawn between Bodhisattva-bhumi and Buddha-bhumi. In the Avatamsaka, however, the realization of luddhahood is not the end of the Bodhisattva career, but is simply an aspect of the eternal activity of an enlightened Bodhisattva; he is considered to carry on an endless altruism, in which he manifests himself even as a Buddha like Sakyamuni. In other words, the Mahavastu and the Prajna sutras exphasize a Buddha with all the characteristics and attributes of Nirmanakaya, even though the latter speaks of Dharmakaya in the Seventh Bhumi; but the Avatamsaka places a greater emphasis on Dharmakaya, so that a human Buddha is considered to be a mere manifestation of the original Dharmakaya. Lastly, the process of generalizing the Buddha's life pattern can be presented in the following way. First stage: a pattern of S'dkyamuni's life up to Enlightenment was formulated to describe His last birth in the Bodhisattva career. The second: the life pattern thus established was generalized in order to be adaptable to the Bodhisattvas, first, to the seven former Buddhas, while in their Bodhisattva stages, and then to all other Buddhas. The third: the life pattern of the highest Bodhisattva so set was extended to include the whole life of the Buddhas.

Note: It is unlikely that the set patterns such as those in the Mahavastu and the Prajna sutras were created directly from Sakyamuni's biographical stories. They presuppose several foregoing patterns, one of which we find in the Mahapadana-suttanta of the Digha-Nikaya (DN. ii, 12-15). This suttanta, in presenting the story of Vipassi Buddha (the oldest of the six past Buddhas), shows that it is the "rule" or the course of nature (dhammata) for a Bodhi- sattva to manifest the 16 characteristic features: that is, his descent, from the Tusita Heaven up to taking 7 steps on his birth. The popular life pattern of a Buddha in Chinaand Japan consists of eight aspects; hence, 八相成道, oreight-aspect of attaining Bodhi'. The大乗起信

論enumerates the, following eight(Taisho. XXXII, 581 a): 1從兜率天退2入胎 3佳胎4出胎5出家6成道7轄法輪8入於浬契. However,. T'ien-t'ai in his 天台四教儀omits住胎and supplies“降魔 ”before成道'(Taisho. LX, 745 c).

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